


Strong Silent Half

by MiniNephthys



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Homestuck Kink Meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-28
Updated: 2011-07-28
Packaged: 2017-10-21 21:04:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/229837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNephthys/pseuds/MiniNephthys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Good old-fashioned family bonding.  May 2011.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strong Silent Half

There are a few occasions where Dad does not bake cakes.

That sentence seems to be completely illogical. If it is an occasion, Dad will bake a cake. That's what he does. He will bake several cakes for important occasions like birthdays. It's a wonder that John doesn't have a cavity in every tooth by now.

It's not that Dad's cakes are bad, they're just... overwhelming. John can't eat more than a couple of slices of cake at a time, and not every day! Maybe Dad thinks that he's baking for a huge birthday party, or something.

Anyway.

When John comes down with the flu, Dad does not bake cakes. Sugar isn't good for you when you're sick, he says. Instead, he comes into John's room where John is pitifully hiding under the covers, and sets a bowl of steaming chicken soup next to John's bed.

Then he reads to John from Colonel Sassacre's Daunting Text of Magical Frivolity and Practical Japery. They laugh together at the particularly amusing jokes before Dad kisses John on the forehead and leaves him to eat his soup and get some rest.

It's the best soup John's ever had. He finishes all of it.  


* * *

  
Rose has read a great many books. Lately, increasing numbers of them have been on the subject of puberty.

She goes to school, as most children of her age do, and therefore encounters girls of her own age. When she used to be thoroughly average in height, she finds that now she has to look up to a good deal of them in a literal sense. She's more... flat-chested.

She is, in short, a late bloomer.

There is no reason to be upset about this. She remains among the top of her class intellectually. She is physically stronger than most. What time her body decides to engage in puberty is of no concern to her, and yet.

Mom finds her reading a book on the stages of growth in girls, and Rose expects more of the same cruel irony. Her mother is tall enough to be a model, and couldn't understand. Instead, she disappears, and returns with a class photo. Rose looks for Mom and can't find her until Mom points out the text at the bottom. Front row, the smallest of the small: Lalonde.

She hugs her daughter, and for once Rose is sure that the affection is real.  


* * *

  
Dave doesn't learn to rhyme to become a good DJ, or even to enhance his cool.

Dave learns to rhyme because of the day that he comes home and throws his backpack against the wall. Bro looks over at him, and since Dave knows that he'll have to explain eventually, he tells his brother that he can't read. That the words don't make sense as quickly as the other kids can put them together, that he feels ashamed every time he's called on to read aloud from their books.

Bro works with him, teaches him what words go together, tells him how to recognize the crap English throws at you, calls his teachers and asks how the week went and what he can do to help. He never hurries and never gets annoyed when Dave struggles with a word, just lets him try again until he has it down.

When he learns enough that school isn't as challenging now and teachers are clapping Bro on the back at parent-teacher night, Bro downloads Pesterchum onto his computer and tells him to keep his skills up. Dave's never liked books, but this is different. This is cool.

Dave almost hugs him. Almost.  


* * *

  
Jade gets lonely, sometimes.

Besides Grandpa, there aren't many people she's come in contact with. She uses Pesterchum, and that's pretty cool, but sometimes she wants human interaction.

Dog interaction, she finds out, is just as good. Or maybe that's just with Bec.

Bec is a sweetheart. He likes belly rubs, and she likes it when he licks her cheek. They play fetch, and hide and go seek, and whatever else Jade can think of that doesn't require hands or speech. They watch movies together that Dave would dismiss as 'chick flicks' and even John wouldn't really want to watch, and curl up on the couch getting teary-eyed when Rose says goodbye to Jack.

Sometimes Jade throws pillows at him. He could dodge them as well as he could bullets, which is pretty well, but he indulges her by getting pillow feathers in his fur and looking silly.

Things aren't always fun and games on the island. Sometimes Jade wonders about the circumstances of her grandpa's death and starts sniffling. When that happens, Bec always comes and finds her, rubbing his head against her hand. She smiles, and gets him some dog treats for taking such good care of her.


End file.
